(Closed) Prostate Cancer

So, my father who lives a little over 10 hours away called me last night to tell me that he’s been getting blood tests for a year and that they just told him he has cancer. I don’t even know what to think. To be honest, I’m terrified. My mother (they’re divorced and she lives locally) was diagnosed with ALS last summer. We’re not on good terms and do not see one another or speak to one another (though she still sends me requests in Farmville? I don’t even…). But my relationship with my dad has always been very close. I don’t know a lot of about this type of cancer, other than what I’ve racked my mind with via WedMD in the last 12 hours. I know he’s going back in two weeks or so to have scans done to see if it’s spread to his bones/lymph nodes. I was just wondering if any Bees have any experience with prostate cancer and what I may expect? Or having a family member go through an illness like this while you’re living so far away? Thank you!

My grandfather had prostate cancer when I was born (I’m 21). He won his battle with cancer and lived another 15 years.. He passed from entirely unrelated reasons. Every case is different, but I will hope for a good prognosis for you.

My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer when I was in my last year of high school. I have to admit I was a total distracted jerk teenager and if I could go back in time I’d pay a lot more attention, but shortly after he was diagnosed he was in the hospital for surgery. He was up and about the next day, much to the chagrin of his pain management team, and I believe he was out of the hospital pretty quickly. I remember him recovering relatively fast, though he had a few follow-up tests for a while after until they declared him cancer free. It wasn’t really a big long drawn-out ordeal once the diagnosis was made, but he had a lot of testing prior to that to confirm it and that was a very tense time for him from my perspective.

The cancer has never come back but he does deal with some ongoing issues from it that I won’t get into because it’s his medical history, not mine.

The number one thing that stuck with me after his diagnosis was how it changed him, emotionally. He became a lot more concerned with family matters, with telling us his true feelings, with letting go of the little things. It really made him take stock of his mortality, I think, and in that respect he is a now lot more open and a lot mroe unflappable.

Prostate cancer is a really common thing. I recall reading somewhere that basically, if a man lives past a certain age he WILL get it, it’s just a matter of when — I don’t know if that’s true, though. If it was caught quickly and hasn’t spread it’s likely a very hopeful situation.

Prostate cancer is a very slow progressing cancer. Very few men actually die of prostate cancer. They usually die of something else, like heart disease or old age before the prostate cancer would get to a lethal stage.

PP’s are right- prostate cancer is not necessarily a death sentence like many other cancers can be. My grandfather has had it for apx 10 years. He also has dementia and the doctors told us that the dementia would probably get him before the cancer ever did. Good Luck!

My uncle was just recently diagnosed, right before christmas. They did surgery, it had not spread, and he now has to be tested for 2 years I think for signs of another tumour or recurrence. He had lung cancer years sgo, and the doctors felt this was entirely unrelated. There was never any talk of him not surviving, or suffering long term.

My FIL was diagnosed the day before thanksgiving. After the bone scans revealed that it hadn’t spread, he had his prostate removed the first week of January. He’s doing great! Early detection is key! I’ll be saying lots of prayers for your family tonight!

Haven’t read all the posts but I wanted to tell you that my father had prostate cancer. He was a 7. I forget what the numbers mean exactly now but 7 was not good and was considered pretty bad. He has the surgery to remove the prostate and he is now over a year cancer free and living life like he was never slowed up. He had things on his side though like excellent shape and normal BMI. Always a healthy eater and so on. He’s also young.. Only 49. Non the less it is a success story. I was very scared for him a cried a lot a night. I just tried to be there for him. Hang in there. It doesn’t always end terrible. <3

Thanks everyone 🙂 He had the bone scan. They’re sending the results to his doctor so we have to wait 2 weeks to find out anything : It’s nerve wrecking. I also found out his Gleason score is an 8, which means it’s an aggressive cancer.

Also, because of his score, he’s not a canidate for radiation seed treatment. He can either have a radical prostectomy or 42 treatments of radiation. If he has surgery and it comes back, they can try the radiation. But if he goes with the radiation and that doesn’t work, there’s nothing else they can do. :